Use of ICTs for Women Psychological Empowerment in South Africa

Abstract

The term ‘empowerment' has been defined in many ways in different professional fields. Empowerment means to develop a person's full potential to achieve a range of human capabilities. For people to be productive, they may need to be empowered to gasp their sense of self-worth and be able to tackle their personal issues. The study investigates the contribution of ICT tools such as telecentres for the empowerment of women in disadvantaged areas of the Western Cape, South Africa. The essence of empowerment entails the alteration of individual lives to attain goals they may have not been able to achieve. Thus, empowerment is an active, multi-dimensional progression that allows people to comprehend their potential and powers in all spheres of life. The study used the Dimensions of Empowerment Theory to explain the outcome of women's use of the telecentre using the dimensions of empowerment output indicator.

Information and Communication Technology Management for Sustainable Youth Employability in Underserved Society

“…The organization has established projects that aim to promote communities with information communication technology infrastructure and networks. Other ICT initiatives established by the South African government include the Wi-Fi pilot project, Cape Access project, SA Connect broadband rollout, Smart Cape, and Cape Access (Alao et al 2021). The goal was to implement a stable and reliable service that will be available and accessible to people in South Africa (Alao et al 2021).…”

“…This study discussed the usefulness of the five livelihoods ICT assets on youth development as follows. Youths can use human capital assets to access information relating to human development and improved youth employability, such as youths engaging in ICT skills training and entrepreneurship skills development prospects to enhance job market opportunities (Alao & Brink, 2021), while financial capital shows how youths can use ICTs to generate income. Also, crowd sourcing is a means of generating income because it provides financial resources using the Internet as a transaction market (Gunawardana, 2022).…”

“…Youths can use technology to access local and international markets and ideas about goods and services that can support their small business start-ups and entrepreneurship endeavors (Verma, 2022). The model was used to explain how youths can use ICT assets for natural capital to connect to communication channels such as traditional media to access resources management, and administrative and legal information to disseminate information to develop strategies to solve and manage conflicts affecting youths (Alao & Brink, 2021). The study model shows the expected outcome of using ICTs to attain entrepreneurship and ICT skills development which can be obtained through work integrating learning through practical work training.…”

Strategies for Using ICT Skills in Educational Systems for Sustainable Youth Employability in South Africa

“…The use of community public access models, digital centres or public access points such as the Acacia Initiative sponsored by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is an international effort to empower Sub-Saharan African communities with the competencies to incorporate information and communication technologies in the social and economic development of this African region, as well as "knowledge centres" such as the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) initiative, a non-profit non-government organisation trust located in Chennai, India used to develop and promote strategies for economic growth to increase the employment of marginalized people in rural areas. Similar initiatives can be established to facilitate ICT skills training at the grassroots to motivate youths living in marginalized communities [32]. In the South African context, ICT initiatives such as Cape Access and Smart Cape in the Western Cape have provided access to ICT tools and infrastructures to people in poor areas [32].…”

“…Similar initiatives can be established to facilitate ICT skills training at the grassroots to motivate youths living in marginalized communities [32]. In the South African context, ICT initiatives such as Cape Access and Smart Cape in the Western Cape have provided access to ICT tools and infrastructures to people in poor areas [32]. Hence, public access points or ICT skills training centres can provide access to ICT tools and have a positive impact on the livelihood of youths.…”